Second phase of senior housing development ready for ground breaking

Editor’s note: This story is part of Southwest Michigan Second Wave’s On the Ground Northside series.

Groundbreaking for a second phase of senior housing, sponsored by the Northside Association for Community Development, will take place Wednesday, Aug. 22 at 5:30 p.m. on the corner of North and Church streets.

Funded in part through the Kalamazoo Community Foundation and Local Initiatives Support Corporation, each unit of the duplex will feature two bedrooms and one garage, an exact duplicate of the first senior duplex, which was completed in 2016, says Mattie Jordan-Woods, Executive Director of the NACD. The first apartments are 302 A and B and the second are 302 C and D. Both are on West North Street.

“We’re very blessed to have funders who understand that need for affordable housing in the community,” says Jordan-Woods, who says the initiative is a response to residents’ requests at open NACD board meetings.

“What this is doing is continuing to provide affordable housing for low-income seniors in the neighborhood in which they raised their children,” says Jordan-Woods. “Also, we wanted to make the apartments accessible. There’s a grocery store and bus station nearby, which allows the residents to be mobile.”

As part of an NACD goal to make living on the Northside more convenient for seniors, plans are also underway to convert the old Harper Funeral Home, adjacent to the apartments, into a fitness and computer literacy center, as well as office space,  Jordan-Woods adds.

Potential residents must be at least 62 years old to apply for the apartments, which are slated to be completed this December. A third and final construction phase, featuring an additional duplex, will begin in 2019. Apartment applications, which cost $25 for processing, will be available at the groundbreaking. For more information, please contact nacd@sbcglobal.net.